Alex Stine’s Post

For the most part, I avoid posting anything close to politics on LinkedIn but this situation needs to be heard. For those of you who think disability rights are more protected in a left leaning administration as compared to a right leaning administration, you'd be wrong for believing either side. You see, no one truly cares about our rights as disabled individuals at the political level of Washington D.C. Case in point. I filed an Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) access issue ticket with the city I live in as there was a concrete flower pot obstructing both sides of the crosswalk at an intersection. The city promptly responded and said all the land in the area, including that stretch of road, is privately owned and I should file an ADA complaint with the Department of Justice (DOJ). Here is the email I received today. "Dear Alexander Stine, You contacted the Department of Justice on April 18, 2024. After careful review of what you submitted, we have decided not to take any further action on your complaint. What we did: Team members from the Civil Rights Division reviewed the information you submitted. Based on our review, we have decided not to take any further action on your complaint. We receive several thousand reports of civil rights violations each year. We unfortunately do not have the resources to take direct action for every report. Your report number was 436871-TWR. What you can do: We are not determining that your report lacks merit. Your issue may still be actionable by others - your state bar association or local legal aid office may be able to help. To find a local office: American Bar Association https://lnkd.in/gnYrNN4x (800) 285-2221 Legal Services Corporation (or Legal Aid Offices) https://lnkd.in/gpzERRY4 How you have helped: While we don’t have the capacity to take on each individual report, your report can help us find issues affecting multiple people or communities. It also helps us understand emerging trends and topics. Thank you for taking the time to contact the Department of Justice about your concerns. We regret we are not able to provide more help on this matter. Sincerely, U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division" I am attaching an image I had someone take for me of the ramp leading down to the crosswalk totally obstructed and impassible for anyone using an assistive mobility device. It was tough for me to navigate around with no vision and I can fit in tight spaces, I submitted the reports knowing not everyone had that option and something needed to be done. TLDR: If you think the DOJ under any administration (right or left) has a vested interest in protecting the rights of the disabled community, you best think again. Thoughts? Would like to somehow find a solution. #Accessibility #ADA #DOJ #DisabilityCommunity #Streets

Had an awesome experience at Nebraska Furniture Mart today. I was so nervous, this was the first time that I have ever gone to buy furniture for a bedroom since losing my vision. Upon entering the store, security quickly assisted me in finding a sales rep. Once I was paired up, they asked me lots of questions to figure out what type of bedroom I envisioned. I then showed him the room dimensions provided by the apartment so we could ensure everything would fit. The goal was to find a new bed, dresser, and nightstand. It wasn't exactly a quick process, even though the sales rep knew kind of what to show me, I had to go explore each item by touch. If I found something I liked, the rep would give me the price and check if it was in stock or not. After some time, I landed on my bedroom options. Now, the fun part. Trying out matrasses. It only took me about 3 tries to land on the one I wanted to buy. Did some information gathering and the rep processed the payment, scheduled shipping, and printed out a confirmation receipt. This is what inclusion looks like, no judgement, no pain, accessibility from start to finish, patient, no pressuring reps, etc. I believe I had the same experience or at least as close to the same experience as any other customer would have had. Let me tell you, this is one of the rare times I get to say that. This store was located in The Colony, Texas. Keep it up NFM! #Accessibility #InclusiveShopping #Inclusion #DisabilityInclusion #Stores #NFM #TheColonyTX

Accessibility design that discriminates? Picture this, a beeping sign at an intersection meant to help the blind, visually impaired, and deafblind cross the street. These devices in the US and likely other countries are known as audible pedestrian systems or APS's for short. Most of these systems will have a circular button with a raised arrow in the middle. The arrow will be aligned with the street you would cross when you activate the button. The locator beep tones help the blind and visually impaired find the button. The button also vibrates when it is safe to cross the street for the benefit of those with hearing loss. There is a verbal announcement in my city that normally sounds like this. Press: "Wait to cross Street X at Street X." Walk sign: "Walk sign is on to cross street X at street X." What is the problem you may ask? Wave to activate APS systems. As far as accessibility design is concerned, this is a great thing because people who might not be able to reliably guide their hands to press a button could simply get close. For the blind, visually impaired, and deafblind, we rely on feeling that arrow to make sure we're activating the button for the right street to cross. Even though most APS systems are required to announce the street name, this isn't always the case. Federal law states that the signs must only announce the street name if there is another sign closer than 10ft. In this case, the audio tone simply changes to let users know when crossing is safe. In other situations, your public works department programmed them wrong. I was able to convince my city to stop using these models so now the button press is required. I really hated to do it as I know this move might make things harder for some but it is impossible to have a system that blind people use based on feel work on a hand wave. Water and oil don't mix, neither do these. My point, sometimes you can keep engineering and engineering to stride for a more accessible experience and end up making it worse. We're never going to eliminate all struggle from the world, our job as accessibility professionals is to eliminate as much as possible without severely impacting the people we're trying to improve the lives of. Thoughts? Share in the comments below. #Accessibility #UniversalDesign #APS #Streets #ADA

I wanted to provide an update on this as I received an official response today. Southwest found that they did not meet federal contractual obligations to assist me in a timely manner. They played the constant apology card and promised to make things better in the future. I doubt much changes, but here is to hoping. I was provided with a $150.00 Southwest voucher so at least the blow is softened a bit from all the time they wasted. They encouraged me to report rideshare concerns to Love Field which I really have no interest in doing. Love Field has created a broken system and it's one that needs to be fixed. Southwest then went on to tell me that they only rent space from the airport and while this is true, Southwest isn't exactly small at Love Field. I know for certain they would have more pull than that. Not the best outcome here, however, much better than what I expected. Hoping future travels are less painful as I will continue to submit complaints until they learn. Especially if the complaint is related to the airport itself because no one seems to want to take accountability for the broken travel industry for people with disabilities. #Airlines #Southwest #DallasLoveField #FlyingDisabled

In case you missed it, another live accessibility audit in the books. Big thanks to all who make these events possible, my job is very simple compared to the logistics of finding sponsors to cover live captioning or a plugin to audit in the first place. It is very likely I may have to take a break from these soon and that's not because I haven't enjoyed them, my schedule is super packed at the moment and trying to not over extend. We'll see what happens in the coming months. #Accessibility #Recording #AccessibilityAudit #LiveEvent #Online #WordPress

Thank you for the opportunity Orestis S.. I could not have been happier to do this informative interview to help others.

Lyft/Uber pulling out of Minneapolis? Article below. https://lnkd.in/ghxRvPFa “We’re going to have a transportation system in our city that is equitable that pays fair wages and you can raise a family on,” Minneapolis City Council President Elliott Payne said. Not sure how equitable you can call a transportation system that also makes the cost too high to ride. That would be like Uber/Lyft leaving Dallas/Fort Worth (as they did in the passed) and this time, Alto is your only rideshare option. For those who don't know, Alto has a pricing model with two parts. If you join as a member, the pricing will be slightly less than a standard Uber Black. The pricing is about the same for non-members with the non-member premium added on. This is not exactly an affordable rideshare company to take you to work every day. About Alto below. https://ridealto.com/ Truth is, Lyft/Uber will make plenty of money even after this change but the missed catch by the city council here is that companies already come up with a profit margin in their business plans and some will absolutely refuse to go below that. That's exactly what happened here and while the city council is not totally to blame for trying to give citizens a living wage, the consequences are going to be high for all non-drivers or those who cannot take public transportation. For everyone affected in Minneapolis, whether you are a driver or passenger, I am wishing for a speedy resolution. #Accessibility #Rideshare #Uber #Lyft #Minneapolis

Today was my last day at Waystar. It was a great place to work and the people I got to work with were even better. I will miss all of the onsites where we all had opportunities to get to know one another in-person. I decided I needed to take a break from the stresses of a full time DevOps role for a while and try my skills in another area of tech. I will be starting at JPMorgan Chase as a Sr. Accessibility Specialist. I cannot wait to join the Digital Accessibility department and drive real meaningful change for end-users. Whether it be banking, investing, or simply reading business information, all of it should be equally accessible for all. I hope to make a huge impact in the accessibility community along the way. I am quite nervous about the new adventure I am chasing but we'll see how it goes. Sometimes you have to take those risks and I am sure this one will more than pay off. Taking an extended weekend to relax, first day is Tuesday. Game on! #Accessibility #JobChanges #Waystar #JPMC